Vayeira 5784

Vayeira תשפ"ד           This week’s portion, Vayeira, is the fourth portion in the Torah and at this point it has been over 2000 years since Hashem created the world. Regarding the 2000 years that have passed, the Torah has shared…

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Parshat Bereshit 5784

Parshat Bereshit תשפ"ד Last Shabbat– (Shemini Atzeret morning), the world woke up to the news that Israel was under a deadly attack. Hamas staged a major uprising. Entering Israel from Gaza, they murdered, in cold blood, nearly 1,000 soldiers, policemen,…

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Sukkot II 5784

Sukkot II תשפ"ד        The Sukkot holiday is blessed with two mitzvot: the mitzvah to dwell in the sukkah for seven days, and the mitzvah to take the four species – the lulav, etrog, hadas  (myrtle), and aravah  (brook willow).…

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Sukkos 5784

Sukkot תשפ"ד The Tur (written by R. Jacob ben Asher 1269-1343) notes in the name of his brother that the three festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, correspond to our three forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov: Passover corresponds to Avraham because…

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Yom Kippur 5784

Yom Kippur תשפ"ד During the course of the year when we twice daily say the Shema, we recite the second verse,ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד  (Baruch shem ..) Blessed forever is Hashem’s Honorable Name, silently. On Yom Kippur, though,…

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Rosh Hashanah 5783

Rosh Hashanah תשפ"ג The Torah (Deuteronomy 29:1) calls Rosh Hashanah, “יום תרועה” a day of “teruah.” The exact meaning of the word “teruah” is a mystery. A bit of detective work was necessary to determine its meaning. The first step…

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Elul 5783

Elul תשפ"ג Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the 1st day of the month of Tishrei (this year, Friday night, September 16th) marks the beginning of the new year 5784. This counts the years since the world’s creation, which happened on…

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Parshas Shoftim

Parshat Shoftim תשפג If statistics are correct, Jews comprise .02% of the world’s population. There are over 2.5 billion Christians, almost 2 billion Muslims, billions more people in many other religions, including non-believers. The Torah instructs us to follow the…

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